Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches /// Recruit my army from the orphanages

Beachblogging

December 4, 2007

I’m sitting on the beach in Puerto Rico right now. Insane to bring your laptop to the beach, you say? Yeah, you’re probably right—but the beach is only a few steps from my hotel, the El San Juan, so, y’know. The hotel is nice but for the pervasive, thumping techno soundtrack that is seemingly impossible to get away from: in the elevator, in the halls (which you can hear, faintly, the insistent bassline, at night in bed, in your room—no kidding), and even right here, right behind me on the beach. So maybe having a laptop out here, with a just-fine WiFi signal, isn’t so strange. The waves are rolling in and the breeze is cool. There are a few scattered people in beach chairs nearby.

Puerto Rico has been great, if a bit odd. The city seems strangely empty—at least, Old San Juan, the 500-year-old downtown area, does. It’s beautiful, though, the Creole (I think) architecture, all the pastel colors, the little lizards sunning themselves. I like a lizard, I’ve decided. They are cute little critters, how they are totally unmoving and then, bam, in a flash, they’re off.

We’ve seen a lot of interesting hotels. The new La Concha, which is being renovated right now in time (they say, though I don’t see how they will get it done in time) for a Sunday, Dec. 8th opening. The La Concha is an old hotel built in the Tropical Modernism style which has lain fallow for 10 years now—just went to seed. They’re doing a ton of work on it, though, and it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful hotel when it is finished.